Message: ‘Cleaning House’                                                                                 Main Text: John  2:12-25

Introduction: Wat gets you worked up? I mean what is it that really pushes the high energy emotion button in your life?

•    For some people it’s their pets.
•    For some it’s their collections of lighthouses, frogs or beanie babies.
•    For some, especially men, it’s their cars. Think about it, some men would rather spend their Sat. morning washing, waxing, detailing their car than take you for a ride in it. Am I right ladies? I had a friend who was so protective of his car that if anyone got too close to the car, it would say ‘Hey buddy, get away from the car.’

Whatever object may have our attention and affection, it is not as precious to us as the ‘temple’ is to Jesus. Our task this morning is to learn why this is true. And to discover the meaning the cleansing of the Temple has to us living 2 centuries later?

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 2:12, where we join Jesus and his disciples as they travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

Read: John 2:12    Set Up House in Capernaum

Now this verse might seem out of place. But it’s more than that. Capernaum becomes Jesus ministry headquarters, his base of operations, if you will. And Matt. 4:13 tells us that Jesus sets up a home for his family there.

Transition: After setting up house in Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples leave for Jerusalem to worship at the Temple for the Feast of the Passover.

Read: John 2:13-16    Cleaning House in Jerusalem

ILL: Imagine you pull into the church parking lot on Sunday morning.
•    Your heart is full of anticipation.
•    You are ready to enter the church building and join your brothers and sisters in joyous worship.
•    You look forward to singing songs of praise.
•    You feel the need to commune with God in prayer.
•    You anticipate the Lord’s Supper being served.
•    You have your tithe and offering.
•    You long to hear the Word of God spoken prayed, sung and taught.

But as you pull up, the parking lot is crammed full. You can’t even find a place to park. But, you are undeterred. You park down the street and walk
a few blocks. But as you try to enter the building there is a long line. There are tables set up at the door to Burtt Hall, the side door to the Worship Center and the front doors. 

People are writing checks and putting down cash on the tables and getting tokens in return to place in the offering plate. You finally make it to the table and are told that you need the new church currency in order to make an offering. So you place $50 on table and get a $25 church coin in return.

You finally make it through the entrance, only to find the halls very congested. Booths are set up all throughout the hallways. People are selling song books at two booths. “Get your song books here. You can’t sing without your official church song book. Rent yours for only $19.95." Across the way there are tables where people are buying and selling communion bread. The sign reads “Official Communion Bread. Get your pinch for only $5.”
Up ahead you notice merchants pouring wine. The sign reads “100% Pure ’Fruit of the Vine’ for Communion. Individual cups only $7.50.”

There is so much commotion and commerce going on that you throw your hands up in disgust realizing you’ll never make it into the sanctuary to worship.  (Mike Jeffress)

Can you picture this? Can you imagine how frustrated you would be if you came with a heart to worship God…and you showed up to find a flea market?  Then you can feel, in a small way, what Jesus felt when he entered Jerusalem and went to the Temple to worship.

Background:
•    Feast of the Passover:  It was the Feast of the Passover and every faithful Jewish male (or male convert) had to travel to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice according to the Law of Moses. Jerusalem and the Temple were packed.
•    Temple Tax: Everyone had to pay a Tax to worship in the Temple.
•    Money Changers:  The Temple Tax needed to be in the Temple currency because the Pharisees liked everyting to be …just so and uniform ( I bet there were other reasons)
•    Animal Vendors: It wasn’t practical for people traveling great distances to bring their own  animals for sacrifice, so they were made available for purchase in Jerusalem. They were once set up across from the Temple in the Kidron Valley, but for convenience they were now set up in the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple itself.

So what’s the problem?
•    Money Changers: The money changers were not giving a fair exchange rate for the foreign currency. Perhaps giving a percentage of the gouging to the Pharisees.
•    Animal Vendors: The animal vendors set up in the place where the Gentile converts could worship. This made the court of the Gentiles sound more like the floor of the New York Stock exchange and smell more like a barnyard than a place to experience the presence of God. They too were ripping the people off. Kind of like going to the movies and paying $4 for 50 cents worth of popcorn. They were charging much more than the animal was worth.
And even if you did bring your own animal, they were saying it wasn’t acceptable and you
had to buy one of theirs.

Bottom line…Worship was not taking place in the temple. It had become defiled, dirty, confused, distracted, secular. And it got Jesus worked up…emotional…angry.

So, Jesus makes a whip out of rope and drives the animals out…Can you see the vendors running out of the Courtyard to gather up their animals?

Symbolically, Jesus was claiming what is his when he tells the vendors and money changers to get out of the Temple because they had turned his Fathers house into a marketplace.

Transition: Well, while this is going on, what do you think Jesus’ disciples were thinking? You might be surprised.

Read: John 2:17    Zeal for His House

•    ‘Come on Jesus, cut it out, you’re embarrassing us.’
•    ‘O, man, I can’t believe what he is doing now’
•    ‘Well, it’s off to prison for us, it was fun while to lasted.’

No! They were men who were passionate about God and they were students of God’s Word. John tells us that they remembered something they had read in the Scriptures about the Messiah… ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ (Ps. 69:9a)

Zeal is defined as passion, fervor. It is a consuming dedication to a purpose. Jesus’ zeal for God’s Temple, the place set apart for God’s presence, the place of worship, moved him to action when it was being defiled.

Transition: Perhaps like me, you may be thinking ‘Where are the priests and religious leaders while this is all going on?’

Read: John 2:18-22     Head of the House

It is almost certain that Jesus’ disciples and the religious leaders didn’t think Jesus was a nut or fanatic. They most likely saw what Jesus did as prophetic. Perhaps he was acting in response to the prophet Malachi who said  ‘The Lord whom you shall see suddenly come into his temple… will purify the sons of Levi.’ (Mal. 3:1b,3b)

So the religious leaders question Jesus’ authority to disrupt the work of the temple. They were asking for a sign, something visible to prove he was the Messiah. And Jesus actually gives them one. ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’  I believe Jesus even gestured to himself while saying this.

Of course with a secular view of life, with their eyes blinded to the spiritual, they understand Jesus to be talking about the physical Temple. It was impossible for him to rebuild in three days what took years to build. They missed it.

Transition: There is no indication in the test that the religious leaders pursued him. So what happened next?

Read: John 2:23-25    Unwanted House Guests
        
Some people believed in Jesus name. Sounds great. But is it? John tells us that Jesus didn’t welcome them because he knew their hearts.

He was saying there is a difference between what a man/women thinks/believes in thier mind and what they know in their heart. This is the basis for the gospel tract  ‘18 inches from heaven’
•    The distance from your mind to your heart is about 18 inches
•    The distance from your mind to your heart is also the chasm between heaven and hell, between true faith and intellectual assent or acknowledgement. Between believing that Jesus died for the sins of the world and that Jesus died for your sins.

Jesus is not saying that we have the right to judge another personal faith…he is saying that he has the right to do so…and does!

People saw Jesus’ miracles and the dramatic Temple cleansing and were entertained by the show but weren’t ready to make a life changing commitment to Jesus. So he left them and departed Jerusalem.

Conclusion
I said I was going to try to make this relevant to our modern lives. Let me recap here we have been this morning.

1. Jesus set up house in Capernaum; it is where he based his ministry…his work. The Apostle Paul,  reminds us that Christians are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, through whom God does his work. Has Jesus set up house in you?

2. The Temple was the place God dwelled, the place his power was manifested, the place that was to be holy and set apart for worship. In Jesus’ day the Temple was a physical building in Jerusalem set apart for the worship of God. Today Paul tells us that we are the temple of God, the place where God dwells and his power is manifested. And it is to be holy, set apart for God, it is a place of worship. Is it?

3. The Temple had become a marketplace with so many distractions, worship could not take place. Are there distractions in your temple, in you? Is worship of the One True and Living God regularly taking place in your life?

4. Jesus drove out the money changers and animal vendors who were hindering people from worship. Is there something in your life, your temple, that Jesus needs to drive out because it’s hindering you from worshipping him as you should?

5. Jesus’ passion for the Temple, the dwelling place of God, caused him to do whatever he needed to do to make it right again. Is your passion for God’s dwelling place, you, causing you to do whatever it takes to make it right with him?

6. Jesus claimed the temple in Jerusalem as his own. Has Jesus claimed you, as his, through your faith in him?
7. Jesus showed his authority over the Temple in Jerusalem and the religious leaders didn’t argue with him over it. Are you fighting Jesus over headship in your life?

8. Jesus looked into the hearts of many of the people who claimed faith and saw emptiness and sin. What does Jesus see when he looks into your heart? Does he see a reflection of himself or does he see a lot of junk…sin?

As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning let us all examine ourselves to see if our faith is more than just a matter of the mind, to see if our passion for God resides deep in our hearts.

As we enter our time of Communion with the Lord at the Table of the Lord, let’s allow him to cleanse us from the inside out through faith in the broken body and shed blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.